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>>Terry, I dont disagree with anything you write here. I extensively use the VFP table functions and prefer them over SQL simply because my apps are more this way inclined. But that doesnt address the issue raised by this thread - which, by the way, does not affect me but I was simply trying to enlighten you as to the nuances of the discussion ;)
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>When the dialog appears, perhaps we should squint our eyes and pretend it's a VFP error message - it is the result of an error. Just because it don't smell like an error message is no reason we should not view it as one!
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>Am I correct - the dalog only appears when the programmer erroneously neglected to open a file before a select was issued?:0

No, the dialog pops up when the specified file does not exist or cannot be found either due to programmer's neglect or someone moving or deleting a file that should not have been deleted, or network connection is lost and the file resides on the network, etc. It may also pop up when you issue a command that expects an open table in the current workarea but for whatever reason, it is not available. Whatever the cause, the point is that it does not raise an error but instead pops up a dialog with no useful information as to which file it is looking for. This causes the user to either select any arbitary file or cancel, either of which might cause unknown harm downstream, where as otherwise the error handler might be able to log the error for correction and gracefully exit the program that had the problem.

BTW, If you keep all files open from the start of your applications and never close them during the run, I'm am really impressed that you have never experienced corruption due to this practice. I suspect you have been very lucky or have perfect, stable power and networks. Neither of which is the norm in most places that I have seen.